Pool project gets P&Z approval; soil cleanup looms

Robert Marchant

Updated 10:38 pm, Tuesday, December 9, 2014

The town Planning and Zoning Commission approved plans to build a new pool at Byram Park on Tuesday night, while questioning whether the discovery of tainted soil there would slow construction of the much-anticipated amenity.

Town officials said the cleanup of contaminated soil at a town park could take several months. No cost estimates have been suggested yet.

Building Superintendent Alan Monelli told the Planning and Zoning Commission a soil cleanup at Byram Park, where traces of arsenic were found, could allow the current pool and related facilities to open next summer.

"It could be a three-month duration," Monelli said, "As long as we can fund it."

Construction of the new pool, which could take about two years, will not to begin until the contaminated soil is removed.

A plan by the town administration, working with a nonprofit organization, calls for a new, 6,400-square-foot facility for splashing and swimming to accommodate 310 people. They applied to construct a 3,160-square-foot building for restrooms and concessions, and to add more parking at the site, for a total of 139 spaces.

The Junior League of Greenwich is partnering with the town to raise funds for the new pool facilities, which has a projected cost of about $7.5 million.

The old pool is small and substandard, while still usable.

The number of park users will be capped at 500 -- the maximum set by sewer limits. The facility will allow 310 to use the pool facilities, while other park users can visit the beach.

Planning Commissioner Margarita Alba said the limit of 500 people could be a disappointment to some on hot weekends.

"We'd like to have as much capacity as possible," she said.

The town created the park in 1974 from a former estate.

Recent tests found soil samples near the pool at the park with arsenic levels that far exceed state regulations -- 10 times the allowable limit in some samples. The state limit is 10 milligrams per kilogram, and numerous samples well exceeded that threshold.

Concerns about possible contamination at the site were discussed long before testing revealed traces of arsenic this fall.

Officials say there is a negligible risk to the public, as the contaminated soil is below the surface. The tainted soil, they say, was used to fill in the site, a former quarry, back in the 1920s.

Peter Quigley, a local resident who often speaks at Town Hall on environmental issues, called on the administration to take a rigorous and comprehensive approach to soil testing and remediation.

"They should go deeper; it's for the public health, and for the taxpayer," Quigley said.

But Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Donald Heller said the pool plan looked like a good one for the community.